AIM athleisure: introducing the team

AIM athleisure, a North-East based innovative fashion and manufacturing business, is the brainchild of founder, Amy Fettis.

Athleisure - a sector that barely existed a few years ago - has grown exponentially right around the world. A raised awareness of the necessity for exercise as part of a healthy lifestyle, this has been accompanied by a considerable rise in the number of gyms and fitness clubs.

Exercise clothing and leisurewear have moved far beyond the merely functional to become a fashion sector in their own right with their own brands and labels, often championed by celebrities and sports personalities, with the distinctions between leisure, social and work becoming blurred.

The market is far from being congested with plenty of room for innovative designs and brands to excite the consumer and disrupt the sector. Athleisure clothing sales grew 8% year-on-year to drive a predicted £2.5bn spend on sports clothing in 2017.

Having imagined the business, the products and the concept, Amy set out to build the perfect team to implement and execute her vision and to truly disrupt the athleisure market.The AIM athleisure team is steeped in the leisurewear and fashion industries with long experience of, and feel for, the market. It also has all the entrepreneurial qualities and business skills needed to develop and position the brand.

Amy Fettis | Founder & Chief Executive

Amy is a Chartered Manager having completed a Higher Level Apprenticeship in Leadership and Management while working as a consultant developing new revenue streams and effecting a change in the business. During this time, she developed her lead generation and sales experience and has since also completed qualifications in Enterprise Skills and Digital Marketing.

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Having a passion for driving projects forward and growing businesses with extensive experience working in a growth focused environment, Amy puts great emphasis on excellent communication between all parties to ensure large scale projects are delivered successfully.

She is responsible for recruiting the brand ambassadors who will support the growth of AIM and for overseeing the supply chain, the manufacturing process and distribution channels including gyms, online traders and retailers.

Nicola Patton | Product Developer

Nicola is an experienced creative and production pattern cutter working from initial design sketches and technical drawings to create first patterns from scratch or working from blocks by amending as required to produce the final pattern.

Having worked as a sample machinist, Nicola has created first samples of new designs by working alongside the designer through fittings and pattern amendments to finalise the fit and create a production-ready sample and generating production specification details for costing and manufacturing. She is experienced in using a range of industrial sewing machines including those specialised for stretch fabrics and the production of activewear.

Nicola is also an experienced pattern grader, who can accurately fit and grade sample garments into size sets that can facilitate bulk production, manually creating graded nests of patterns in paper and then replicating in card and digitally for printing.

As a garment developer, she has a strong technical knowledge of garment construction, pattern and fabrics of athleisure wear, as well as a sound grasp of the production processes required in manufacturing and customisation.

Working closely with Amy overseeing supply chain, product development and design, Nicola is experienced in developing product ranges and has been instrumental in developing the CORE range.

Heather Swan | Commercial Manager

Heather is a founder/director of a high-end, online shoe boutique, successfully securing significant business loans/funding through the presentation of her business and marketing plans. She ran and operated all areas of the business, including marketing, accounts, packaging, website development and all operational functions of an online business.

Interviewing and recruiting staff, Heather was involved in marketing campaigns with both national and international fashion publications. Moreover, Heather sourced and liaised with top designers around the world securing the position of the first UK stockist for a major American brand.

Katie Bulmer-Cooke | Trade Ambassador

Fitness entrepreneur Katie started in business at the age of 16, setting up exercise classes in her home town of Sunderland. Featuring on the BBC TV show The Apprentice, Katie is now selling her fitness DVDs and online training programmes in 11 countries, as well as educating her fellow fitness professionals on how they can grow their businesses and developing new group fitness concepts for leisure trusts, councils and the private sector.

Katie launched her own clothing collection with AIM and will continue to develop the brand.

Growing the team

As the business grows, the team will grow significantly to add capacity, knowledge and skill. In addition to this, Amy is to implement a graduate and an apprentice scheme to develop, inspire and encourage young talent in the North East.

The live EIS eligible investment opportunity

This latest investment opportunity is EIS eligible, meaning an investor can benefit from up to 30% tax relief, which can help mitigate potential downside risk and enhance potential investor returns.

With full details of the investment opportunity available in the investment documentation, you can view the full opportunity details - and invest in this investment opportunity from as little as £100 - via the pitch page here.

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